Chapter 1 - The World of Atoms
Introduction: A Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Universe
Related Book - "Atomic Structure and
Lifetimes: A Conceptual Approach," by L.J. Curtis
To browse, click "Search inside this book," then "Excerpt"
A Conceptual approach
Quotes
Medieval style of presentation
The sum of the parts become clear when you've
seen the whole
Until you know it, don't worry about who discovered it
Historical approach
Where to begin
Body of knowledge or voyage of discovery?
The "discovery" of Italy
What is your world view?
Quiz
Seasons
Put yourself in the picture
Sizes
Doublings
How big? How small?
Sunsets for electrons
Zoom in by 10's
6 degrees
Are you ready to think outside the box?
The first three minute quiz
continued
Card trick
Nature is symmetric in space and time
Time quotes
Time rates
Time exposure: A landscape-timescape
The Lumiere brothers
Stop
action
Slow-motion photography
Time-lapse photography
Reverse-action photography
Time reversal
The most important discovery ever made
Feynman's view
Feynman's voice
Attraction and repulsion of neutral atoms
Today's quiz
Atomic theory vs atomic fact: Einstein & Brownian
motion
Atoms observable to all - STM
STM
Splashdown of a photon
Birth, life, and death of ions
What causes things to interact?
Exchanged quantum model for forces
It takes a whole universe
Mach's Principle: every interaction
involves the entire universe
Electrons and positrons and the direction of time
Electron-Positron events
e-p pair creation & annihilation
One universal electron travelling reversibly in
time
Feynman's Nobel recollections
Interview with Sam Ting
Bubble chamber tracks
Positrons and the PET scan
The photon-dressed electron
The photon re-invents itself
Just
like SpongeBob clones himself
Bosons and ants
Let there be light: take the rest of the week
off!
The limitations of cause and effect
The fallacy of Laplacian Determinism
Laplace: A life in exact science
Cometary orbit
Precise measurement of time?
John Michell's prediction of the black hole
Laplace's prediction of the black hole
Limitations - classical uncertainty
Joint uncertainty in canonical quantities
Economic
Theory of Rational Expectations
Changing the legal landscape
Snapshots versus time exposures
Kepler's 2nd law
Animation
Comet and solar system
Momentum
Applet-Laserlab-cooling1
Molecules in a room
Animation
Looking for deeper patterns
Bending light
Least time
Fermat's principle applet
Dynamics
Explore all paths until measurement
Interactive Java applets
A call to action, Am.J.Phys.
71, 423 (2003)
Feynman and least action
Least action and EBK quantization
Overview
Alternatives?
What is this universe we live in?